The town of Concord is well known for its significant role in national history, especially in the Revolutionary War. Tourists visit from all over the country to explore Concord’s historical institutions, such as The Concord Museum, Old North Bridge, and The Robbins House. In Kim Frederick’s history elective, U.S. Public History: Tour Guide, students delve into Concord’s rich and complex history all while preparing to become licensed tour guides.
The town has already agreed to certify all students who complete the course, allowing them to skip the typical certification process. The town has, however, expressed concerns about the students’ content knowledge. Frederick, however, is far from worried. She assures, “We will have [everything] covered—my class has more time and more reading than the one that people take to get certified.”
Though there are many unique aspects to this course, the format is not unlike a typical history class. Most of the work is aimed at teaching historical content, such as assigned readings, class discussions, and research papers. The students have an enormous amount of information to learn since they must be prepared to both recite information and answer questions on their tours. Frederick also devotes lessons to familiarizing the students with the landmarks where they will be conducting tours.
Frederick explains, “One of my goals is to get kids out and into the field to see where things are and how things relate to each other spatially. So, the day that we read about the Battle of Concord, we went out to the battlefield and looked at the various sites that are there.” This type of immersive learning is a special opportunity in the course and allows the students to acquaint themselves with the landmarks on their tours.
The course material includes a diverse variety of topics, spanning hundreds of years of Concord history. It covers the two subjects that most tourists are interested in: the American Revolution and the American Renaissance. In addition, the course explores Concord’s Native American history. As Frederick shares, there is a lot of history in this often less-discussed topic that should be taught and highlighted. She says, “We know quite a bit about how people lived in this area before the English showed up through the archeological record. We also know quite a bit about the particular people who were here when the English showed up and what the relationship between Native Americans and the English was like. And as more work is done, we know more and more of the story of persistent Native habitation after the English arrived.”
Frederick also covers African American history in Concord. In her words, “[The topic is] voluminous and substantial enough to be its own tour.” She adds, however, that Concord’s African American history heavily overlaps and intertwines with the American Revolution and the American Renaissance periods, leading to a much more complete understanding of the politics and society in both the town and nation. One crucial site that the class learns about is The Robbins House, an early 19th-century home formerly inhabited by the descendants of two enslaved men, Caesar Robbins and Jack Garrison.
Beyond just knowledge of historical facts, Frederick plans to teach the skills needed to be a successful tour guide. These include preparing a tour, public speaking, incorporating the landmarks, and engaging the audience. Frederick also hopes that the students will gain a new perspective on how to think about history, specifically, how the narratives that public historians present affect the stories that are told about our nation, culture, and history. As Frederick states, “There's power in those narratives and there's a need, as public historians, to consider what will be usable history for the people who encounter it.”
In a more broad context, Frederick believes that reflecting on history is especially relevant at this moment in time. She views Concord’s history as a constructive example of complexity and imperfection, one that proves it is a constant struggle to achieve the idealized society. Many of the Patriots in the Revolutionary War, for instance, fought valiantly for their nation’s freedom while simultaneously enslaving others. Those who were enslaved, on the other hand, used the Revolution to gain their freedom through military service and assert their rights.
Frederick states, “I would argue that [Concord’s history] is useful history because it helps us see that there was always a struggle to live up to the ideals that we set before ourselves and that we can persist and come closer to [those ideals]. And that it’s imperfect, but that does not mean that we give up. What is important for a story to tell will change over time.”